A year that started with a beloved legend being drawn and quartered
at UFC Fight Night 103 on Jan. 15 took a number of unexpected
twists and turns, most notably lightweight champion Conor
McGregor’s detour into professional boxing for a lucrative
showdown with Floyd
Mayweather Jr. Four UFC champions lost their grip on
promotional gold, as Michael
Bisping, Jose Aldo,
Cody
Garbrandt and Joanna
Jedrzejczyk were removed from power by force; Jon Jones
returned to the top of the light heavyweight division, only to be
undone soon after by a positive test for performance-enhancing
drugs. Meanwhile, Cristiane
Justino and Nicco
Montano captured vacant titles in the women’s featherweight and
women’s flyweight divisions.

The spaces in between were filled with fights that stretched the
bounds of what was thought possible, crushing knockouts,
gravity-defying submissions, judging controversies, athletic
commission shenanigans and the rise of new stars that will help
carry the combat sports torch into a promising but unknown
future.